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Guideline for
Request for Proposal (RFP) for
For the Monitoring and Evaluation Remote Areas access to MNH services pilot,
Taplejung

INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

Introduction: The Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP) is a programme of technical
assistance funded by the UK governments Department for International Development (DfID), on behalf
of DfID and other pool fund partners supporting the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) for the
implementation of the second Nepal Health Sector Programme (NHSP- 2).

Background: In 2013 Nepals Family Health Division (FHD) and Child Health Division (CHD), with the
support of the World Bank and the Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP) conducted a study
on access to MNCH services in remote areas of Nepal (Regmi et al., 2013). The purpose of the study was
to make recommendations for reducing demand-side barriers, improving service coverage and
improving health seeking behaviour.

The study recommended that a core service delivery and demand-side package of interventions
designed to overcome the barriers to access in remote Nepal should be piloted in one district to inform
the development of strategies for MNCH in remote areas, and the preparation of NHSP-3
implementation plan.

Based on these recommendations, FHD and the Primary Health Care Revitalisation Division (PHCRD) are
planning to pilot a package of interventions implemented at different health service levels in one
remote district. The package will be designed to improve access to and the use of maternal and
neonatal health services, and if proved successful, could be adapted for use in the contexts of other
remote districts. Taplejung district has been selected for this intervention. The purpose of the proposed
Remote Areas MNH Pilot (RAMP) is to inform government plans for working in remote areas of Nepal in
NHSP-3 by identifying concrete lessons and strategies for increasing access to and the uptake of MNH
services in remote areas.

1. General
This bid is open to all national organisations that are legally constituted, can provide the
services required to a high standard and are formally registered in Nepal.


2. Cost of Bid
The bidder shall bear all costs, including travel costs, associated with the preparation and
submission of i ts bid, nor may such costs be included as direct costs of the survey. NHSSP shall
under no circumstances be responsible or liable for such costs, regardless of the conduct or
outcome of the solicitation.






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3. Language of the Bid
The bid prepared by the bidder and all correspondence and documents relating to the bid shall
be written in English.


4. Bid Currency and Prices
All prices shall be quoted in Nepalese Rupees (NPR). The bidder shall indicate in an appropriate
budget format the unit prices (where applicable) and total bid price of the goods or services it
proposes to provide under the contract.

5. Validity of Bid
The prices quoted in the bid shall be valid until the completion of the project and no cost escalation
or variation will be permitted. Any proposal having validity for a shorter period will be rejected by
NHSSP as non-responsive. It should be noted that NHSSP may solicit the bidder's consent for an
extension of the period of validity under exceptional circumstances.


6. Submission of Bids

The documentary evidence of conformity of the goods and services to the bidding documents may
include the following documentation which must be completed and returned in the manual and
electronic formats specified.

Each bidder must submit the following documents:
I. Technical proposal in the specified format: Four (4) signed hard copies and an electronic copy on
CD or memory stick
II. Financial proposal in the specified format: Four (4) signed hard copies and an electronic copy on
CD or memory stick
III. Organisational profile with a copy of other supporting documents as listed below: Two (2) signed
hard copies and an electronic copy on a CD or memory stick

Along with a completed and signed Bid Submission Letter (as specified in Annex II), a bid shall be
submitted in three separate envelopes:

I. An envelope containing the technical proposal;
II. An envelope containing the financial proposal; and
III. An envelope containing the organizational profile as specified above

Failure to furnish all the information required for submission of a bid and bids that do not
substantially respond to the NHSSP bid documents requirements in every respect shall be at the
bidders risk and will result in a rejection of the bid.

6.1. Technical Bid
For NHSSPs acceptance of the bid, the bidder should provide documentary evidence of:

A completed technical proposal in the prescribed format. The technical bid should be
concisely presented to include, but not necessarily be limited to, the information listed in
Annex I and outlined as structured in Annex IV and a summary of the bidders previous
experience of similar assignments and a list of key clients (Annex V)


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6.2. Financial Bid
Please complete the budget using the format provided (Annex VII). Your separate financial bid must
contain a detailed quotation in Nepalese Rupees (NPR), itemising all services to be provided and a
summary. The financial bid should include a detailed Budget narrative for each cost heading.

The budget should show the following:
salaries for administrative staff (number of personnel, salary, number of person-days/months);
field staff salaries for the pretest, and main survey
per diems and travel costs;
rental of training venues;
printing of questionnaires, manuals, maps, field forms;
communication costs;
data processing staff and supplies;
fringe benefits, overhead, fees, any other indirect costs, and VAT, if any, should be clearly
distinguishable.

6.3. Organizational Profile
Please submit an organisational profile along with the following documents:
Organisations legal registration certificate
Organizations VAT and PAN registration certificate
Organizations tax clearance certificate/tax return submission for F/Y 2070/71
Bidders Identification in the prescribed form (Annex III)
Organizations last audited financial statements
Written declaration from the bidder stating that they:
o are eligible to participate in the procurement proceedings
o have no conflict of interest in the proposed procurement proceedings, and
o have not been punished or penalised for a professional or business related offense or
transgression
Certified copies of audit reports for the last 3 Fiscal Years (2068/69, 2069/70, 2069/70).

6.4. Sealing and Marking of Bids
When submitting the technical and financial bid along with the organizational profile in three different
envelopes, your bid shall be prepared and marked as ORIGINAL.

The Outer Envelope must be clearly marked with the following information:
Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP)
Ministry of Health & Population (Room Number 415)
Ramsaha Path, Kathmand, Nepal

RFP NHSSP - RMP
Attention: Office Manager

TO BE OPENED BY AUTHORISED 2015 NHFS EVALUATION COMMITTEE ONLY
Date of submission:





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The Inner Envelopes must be clearly marked with the following information:

Technical Bid

Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP)
Ministry of Health & Population (Room Number 415)
Ramsaha Path, Kathmandu Nepal

Submission 1 of 3: RFP/NHSSP/RMP
Organization name:


Financial Bid


Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP)
Ministry of Health & Population (Room Number 415)
Ramsaha Path, Kathmandu Nepal

Submission 2 of 3: RFP/NHSSP/RMP
Organization name: __________________________


Organizational Profile


Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP)
Ministry of Health & Population (Room Number 415)
Ramsaha Path, Kathmandu Nepal

Submission 3 of 3: RFP/NHSSP/RMP
Organization name: __________________________


If the outer envelope is not securely closed and marked as required, NHSSP shall assume no
responsibility for the bids misplacement or premature opening and the bid will be disqualified.

7. Deadline for Submission of Bid and Late Bids
Bids must be delivered to the office on or before the date and time specified in this RFP. NHSSP may
under special and exceptional circumstances extend this deadline for the submission of the bids and
such changes shall be notified in Kantipur national daily before the expiration of the original period.

Any proposal received by NHSSP after the deadline for submission of bids or any extension period
shall be rejected. NHSSP shall not be legally responsible for bids that arrive late due to the bidders
problems with the courier company.

8. Modification and Withdrawal of Bids
The bidder may withdraw its bid after submission, provided that written notice of the withdrawal is
received by NHSSP prior to the deadline for submission. No bid may be modified after the passing of
the deadline for the submission of bids. No bid may be withdrawn in the interval between the
deadline for submission of bids and the expiration of the period of the bid validity.

9. Storage of Bids
Proposals received prior to the deadline for submission and the time of opening shall be securely
kept and unopened until the specified bid opening date stated in the NHSSPs bid solicitation
document.

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Bid Opening and Evaluation


10. Bid Opening
The sealed outer envelope will be opened only in the presence of the nominated bid evaluation
committee. There shall be separate openings for technical and financial bids. Initially only technical
bids/proposals will be opened by the evaluation committee and the financial proposals/bids will
remain unopened.

After the technical evaluation has been made only those organisations whose technical bids score
65% or more will progress to the next stage and their financial proposals wi ll be opened in the
presence of the same committee that opened technical bid. For organisations who do not achieve
the minimum 65% technical score, their financial bids/proposals will be returned unopened making
them ineligible for further consideration.

11. Clarification of Bids
To assist in the examination, evaluation and comparison of bids, the bid evaluation committee may
ask bidders for clarification of their bids. The request for clarification and the response shall
be in writing from NHSSP on behalf of the committee and no change in price or substance of the
proposal shall be sought, offered or permitted.

12. Preliminary Examination of Bids
NHSSP on behalf of the bid evaluation committee shall examine the bids to determine whether they
are complete, whether any computational errors have been made, whether the documents are
correctly signed and whether the proposals are generally in order.

Prior to the detailed evaluation, NHSSP will help the Bid Evaluation Committee determine the
substantial responsiveness of each bid to the RFP in a preliminary examination. For purposes of
these clauses, a substantially responsive bid is one that conforms to all the terms and conditions of
the RFP without material deviations. The initial determination of a bids responsiveness is based on
the contents of the bid itself without recourse to extrinsic evidence.

A bid that is determined to be not substantially responsive will be rejected and may not
subsequently be made responsive by the bidder by correction of the non-conformity.

Arithmetical errors shall be rectified on the following basis: If there is a discrepancy between the
unit price and the total price that is obtained by multiplying the unit price and quantity, the unit
price shall prevail and the total price shall be corrected. If the Bidder does not accept the correction
of errors, its proposal shall be rejected. If there is a discrepancy between words and figures, the
amount in words shall prevail.

13. Evaluation of Bids
A two-stage procedure will be utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical
bids being completed prior to any financial bids being opened and compared. The financial bid will
be opened only for those bidders whose technical bid reaches a minimum 65 points out of 100,
meeting the requirements for the technical requirements under this RFP. The total number of
points which a bidder may obtain for technical and financial bids is 100 points (both financial and

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technical bids shall score out of 100). The scores will then be weighted 70% for the technical bid
and 30% for the financial bid.

14. Evaluation of Technical Proposal
The technical bid will be evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference
shown in Annex I.

The organisation will be requested to submit their technical and financial proposals as per the TOR
and NHSSPs Request for Proposals (RFP).


Criteria for evaluation of technical proposal
SN Criteria Score
1 Description of the organization, management and administrative capability 10
2 Experience of conducting monitoring and evaluation, surveys, data collection, report
writing , familiarity with the health system and working experience with government,
donor and INGOs.
20
3 Proposed survey and M and E approach/plan methodological soundness, appropriateness
of time schedule
15
4 Quality assurance plan 20
5 Monitoring and Evaluation plan 10
6 Team structure for implementation 10
7 Qualification, experience and commitment of the proposed key staff (CVs of key team
members)
15
Total 100

15. Financial Evaluation
The financial bid will only be evaluated if the technical bid achieves a minimum of 65 points.
Proposals failing to obtain this minimum threshold will not be eligible for further consideration and
will be returned.

The financial bid will be evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Budget Distribution Form
(Annex VII). The maximum number of points for the financial bid for the final scoring is 30.

NHSSP will evaluate the financial proposals based on the soundness of the assumptions,
appropriateness of the budget and the consistency of the financial and technical plan. The proposed
budget has to provide value for money, but be realistic and practical to ensure quality outputs and
should be consistent with the technical proposal.

NHSSP will first evaluate the technical proposals, assigning each a score. The same team of evaluators
will then proceed to evaluate the financial proposals and meet to review the scores assigned. The
team will either determine the winning bid, decide to negotiate further, or not award the project at
all.

16. Total Score
The total score for each bidder will be the weighted sum of the technical score and financial
score. The maximum total score is 100 (70 + 30) points.





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Award of Contract and Final Considerations


17. Award of Contract
Following the evaluation of bids by the committee, NHSSP shall award the contract to the bidder
who obtains the highest combined score of the technical and price evaluation

18. Rejection of Bids and Annulments

NHSSP reserves the right to reject any bid if the bidder has previously failed to perform properly or
complete assignments on time in accordance with earlier contracts with NHSSP or if the bidder
from NHSSP's perspective is not in a position to perform the contract.

A bid that is rejected by NHSSP may not be made responsive by the bidder through the correction of
the non-conformity. A responsive bid is defined as one that conforms to all the terms and conditions
of NHSSPs solicitation documents without material deviations. NHSSP shall determine the
responsiveness of each bid with the NHSSPs bid solicitation documents.

NHSSP reserves the right to annul the solicitation process and reject all bids at any time prior to
award of the contract without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder(s) or any
obligation to provide information on the grounds for the buyers action.

The bidders waive all rights to appeal against the decision made by NHSSP.

19. Right to Vary Requirements at Time of Award
NHSSP reserves the right at the point of award of contract to vary the quantity of services and goods
specified in the RFP with appropriate terms and conditions in agreement with the winning bidder.

20. Signing of the contract
The buyer (NHSSP) shall send the successful bidder the purchase order/contract, which constitutes
the Notification of Award. The successful bidder shall sign and date the contract, and return it to
NHSSP within three calendar days of receipt of the contract. After receipt of the Purchase Order, the
successful bidder shall deliver the services in accordance with the delivery schedule outlined in the
bid.

21. Payment Provisions
NHSSPs policy is to pay for the performance of contractual services rendered or to make payment
upon the achievement of specific milestones described in the contract.

Any request for an advance payment is to be justified and documented, and must be submitted
with the financial bid. The justification shall explain the need for the advance payment, itemize
the amount requested and provide a time schedule for utilisation of said amount. Information about
your financial status must be submitted, such as audited financial statements of the previous year
and this documentation should be included with your financial bid. Further information may be
requested by NHSSP at the time of negotiations with the preferred bidder.





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23. Gifts and Hospitality
NHSSP has a zero tolerance policy on gifts and hospitality. In view of this, NHSSP personnel are
prohibited from accepting any gift, even of a nominal value, including drinks, meals, food
products, hospitality, calendars, transportation and any other forms of benefit. Vendors are
therefore advised not to send gifts or offer hospitality to NHSSP personnel.


ANNEXES:
ANNEX I: Terms of Reference (ToR)
ANNEX II: Bid Submission Letter
ANNEX III: Bidders Identification
ANNEX IV: Outline of Technical Proposal
ANNEX V: Bidders Previous Experience and Key Clients
ANNEX VI: Curriculum Vitae (CV) of Key Team Members
ANNEX VII: Budget Distribution Form





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ANNEX I: TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR MONITORING AND EVALUATION REMOTE AREAS ACCESS
TO MNH SERVICES PILOT, TAPLEJUNG AUGUST 2014
BACKGROUND
The Government of Nepal is committed to improving the health status of its citizens and has made
impressive health gains despite conflict and other difficulties. The Nepal Health Sector Programme-1
(NHSP-1), the first health sector-wide approach (SWAp) in Nepal, ran from July 2004 to mid-July
2010. It was very successful and brought about many health improvements. Building on these
successes, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) and its external development partners
designed a second phase of the programme (NHSP-2, 2010-2015), which began in mid-July 2010.
NHSP-2s goal is to improve the health status of the people of Nepal. Its purpose is to improve the
utilisation of essential health care and other services, especially by women and poor and excluded
people.
Technical assistance to NHSP-2 is being provided from pooled external development partner support
(DFID, World Bank, AusAID, KfW and GAVI) through the Nepal Health Sector Support Programme
(NHSSP). NHSSP is a five-year programme (20102015) funded by the Department for International
Development (DFID) and managed and implemented by Options Consultancy Services Ltd and
partners Oxford Policy Management and Crown Agents. NHSSP is providing technical assistance and
capacity building support to help MoHP deliver against the NHSP-2 Results Framework.
The following are the key areas of NHSSP support:

- health policy and planning; - essential health care services;
- health systems and governance; - procurement and infrastructure;
- human resources for health; - monitoring and evaluation;
- health financing; - aid effectiveness.
- gender equality and social inclusion;

SPECIFIC BACKGROUND
In 2013 Nepals Family Health Division (FHD) and Child Health Division (CHD), with the support of the
World Bank and the Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP) conducted a study on access
to MNCH services in remote areas of Nepal (Regmi et al., 2013). The purpose of the study was to
make recommendations for reducing demand-side barriers, improving service coverage and
improving health seeking behaviour.

A review of policies and programmes revealed that, although Nepal has been successful in reaching
its citizens with maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services such as family planning,
antenatal care, and immunisation, (Regmi et al., 2013), these initiatives have not targeted areas
where the need is higher and access is poorer. Most attention has gone to achieving population-
based targets, with much less for reaching the most disadvantaged people who face greater
geographical, social and economic barriers to accessing health services.

The study found that remoteness is a factor that effects access to and the use of MNCH services
both within and between districts. For example, compared to less remote village development
committees (VDCs), remote VDCs (defined as VDCs that lie more than eight hours travel distance
from their district headquarters) were found to generally have fewer human resources for health,
fewer facilities including birthing centres and long term family planning (LTFP) services, and higher

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levels of drug stock-outs and expired drugs. The uptake of services was also lower in remote VDCs
The study concluded that both demand and supply-side barriers need addressing in ways tailored to
local contexts to improve access to health services in remote areas. Strengthening district health
management in remote districts should support the improved availability, quality and
responsiveness of health services.

In conclusion the study recommended that a core service delivery and demand-side package of
interventions designed to overcome the barriers to access in remote Nepal should be piloted in one
district to inform the development of strategies for MNCH in remote areas, and the preparation of
NHSP-3 implementation plan.

Based on these recommendations, FHD and the Primary Health Care Revitalisation Division (PHCRD)
are planning to pilot a package of interventions implemented at different health service levels in one
remote district. The package will be designed to improve access to and the use of maternal and
neonatal health services, and if proved successful, could be adapted for use in the contexts of other
remote districts. Taplejung district has been selected for this intervention. The purpose of the
proposed Remote Areas MNH Pilot (RAMP) is to inform government plans for working in remote
areas of Nepal in NHSP-3 by identifying concrete lessons and strategies for increasing access to and
the uptake of MNH services in remote areas.

The objectives of the pilot intervention will be as follows:
To demonstrate whether or not a supply side package of health facility level and district-
based interventions, tailored to the local context, and with or without demand side
interventions, will result in more equitable access to and use of maternal and newborn
health (MNH) services in focal VDCs in one remote district of Nepal.
To identify lessons about how supply and demand side interventions can be successfully
delivered to improve equitable access to and the use of MNH services in remote VDCs.
To establish if costs and outcomes justify scaling up the piloted interventions to other VDCs
and districts.
The pilot aims to answer four main research questions:
Research question Focus of questions
1. How can essential MNH services be
made available and demand side
interventions for MNH delivered in remote
areas?
This is an operations level question to find out how MNH
services can be made available (it is globally agreed that
these services should be universally available) to ensure
the supply side, and how demand side interventions for
MNH can be delivered.
2. Can supply-side interventions alone
increase the use of and access to MNH
services?
These are evaluation questions to test possible value
additions to address the following two hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: there will be greater availability and
demand for MNH services at sites where Package 2 is
implemented than where Package 1 is implemented.
Hypothesis 2: There will be greater availability and
demand for MNH services at sites where Package 3 is
implemented compared to where Package 1 or 2 alone
are implemented.

3. Can demand-side interventions
complement supply-side interventions to
work together to promote greater
accessibility and use of MNH services and
accountability in providing them?

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4. What are the unit costs associated with
reaching remote communities, and is scale
up justifiable from a cost perspective?
This is a cost analysis question: What is the unit cost of
applying the supply side package alone or in combination
with the demand-side package?

The intended outcomes and outputs of the pilot project are:
Outcome 1 Increased and more equitable use of MNH services
Secondary
outcome 1
Increased and more equitable use of child health services
Outcome 2 Increased adoption of healthy maternal and newborn
health practices
Outcome 3 Reduced cultural and economic barriers to accessing
maternal and newborn health care services
Output 1 Increased knowledge and social acceptability of MNH
services and healthy practices.
Output 2 Improved availability and quality of MNH services in focal
VDCs.
Output 3 Improved management and governance of health services
in the focal VDCs and at the district level.

Details of the pilots design is provided at Annex 1 of this ToR. The full M&E plan is provided at
Annex 2 of this ToR

In order to enable the Government of Nepal to assess how effective and replicable the pilot is, and in
order to enable the implementation team to adjust plans based on evidence of RAMPs
effectiveness, detailed monitoring and evaluation is required. During the design phase of RAMP,
NHSSP partnered with a research agency to help design an approach to monitoring and evaluation
(M&E). The resulting M&E plan identifies the following data sources and tools to be used in
monitoring the pilot: (These tools will be available on request)
a) Health facility survey (Annex 3 of this ToR)
b) Household survey (Annex 4 of this ToR)
c) In-depth interviews with stakeholders (.) (see Annex 5 of this ToR for interview guides)
d) Focus group discussions with .. (see Annex 6 of this ToR for discussion guides)
e) Collection of case studies

a) Health facility survey A survey will be carried out at the targeted health facilities both
before and after the implementation of the three packages to measure service availability and
readiness and service use at these two points. The facility survey will have two sources of
information:

Self-assessment tools Quality of care (QoC) self-assessment tools for improving quality of
care at health facility level will be applied. These tools will be administered at the targeted
health facilities to improve service availability and readiness at these health facilities and
will also be used for monitoring purposes.

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HMIS data Service utilization data at the targeted health facilities and the district
hospital will be collected from the HMIS registers/forms of these health facilities.
b) Household survey A household survey will be carried out before the full-fledged
interventions start and at the end to gather information from married women of reproductive age
(MWRA) and recently delivered women (RDW).
Interviews with married women of reproductive age 960 household interviews will be
conducted to measure change at the outcome level. MWRA will be interviewed to collect
information on their knowledge of MNH and the support they receive to access and use
MNH services. Client satisfaction with services received from the health facilities will also
be assessed.
Interviews with recently delivered women RDWs are defined as women who have
delivered a child in the previous 12 months. Based on the proportion of expected
pregnancies among WRAs at any time, the baseline and endline surveys should interview at
least 120 RDWs. Information will be collected on their knowledge, support received and
access to MNH services.
c) In-depth interviews In-depth interviews will be carried out with the following six types of
stakeholders to gather information on the provision and use of MNH services, the implementation of
the pilot project and other pertinent matters. These interviews will be carried out at the end of the
intervention.
District level stakeholders including the local development officer, school teachers and
representatives of concerned government and non-government organizations working on
MNH in the district. These interviews will mainly solicit views on the implementation,
district context and impact of the pilot project.
DHO personnel The district health officer, the public health nurse, the family planning
supervisor, the EAP focal person (all DHO staff) will be interviewed. These interviews will
gather information on the provision of MNH services, the impact of remoteness on access
to and use of MNH services, the impact of the pilot project and the potential of its
interventions.
Health workers health workers from the district hospital and targeted health facilities
(one per health facility), who are directly involved in providing MNH services, will be
interviewed after the interventions. Doctors, nursing staff and health facility in-charges will
be asked about their views on the pilot projects implementation process, the situation of
the six clusters during implementation, the use of MNH services, and why services are
being under- or over-used in their working areas.
FCHVs In-depth interviews will be carried out with 13 FCHVs (one per VDC) at the end of
the project to gather information on FCHVs involvement and capacity to deliver MNH
services.
EAP social mobilisers (NGO) Interviews will be carried out with the EAP social mobilisers
after the interventions. They will be asked about the response of communities and other
issues and challenges faced while implementing the project.
HDC and HFOMC members Interviews will be carried out with hospital development
committee (HDC) members at the district hospital and HFOMC members from each of the
six cluster hub facilities, after the interventions. These will investigate their understanding

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of their roles and responsibilities, the activeness of HFOMCs and the HDC, actions for
improving MNH services, access by communities and their perceptions of the pilot project.

d) Focus group discussions Three focus group discussions will be held with womens or
mothers group members three with male leaders and community men, and three with WRA. The
three discussions will be held one in each type of the three types of package sites (13). There will
be 6 to 10 participants in each focus group discussion with a range of caste/ethnicity and
remoteness. At the baseline, discussions will investigate the attitudes and practices that affect MNH
care in the family and community and service use. At the endline, discussions will investigate
awareness of the pilot project and its impact on community attitudes and practices related to MNH
care and service use.

e) Collection of case studies
Two or three case studies will be collected to bring out the realities and challenges of providing and
accessing services in remote districts.
In July 2014, the following baseline data will be collected by research agency HERD using agreed and
tested tools:

a) Health facility survey
b) Household survey
c) Focus group discussions
PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The purpose of this M&E assignment is to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the RAMP in
order to inform government decisions about the replicability and efficiency of the pilot.
The objectives of the M&E assignment are:
o To what extent did the pilot achieve its intended outcomes and outputs?
o To what extent did supply-side interventions alone increase the use of and access
to MNH services?
o Can demand-side interventions complement supply-side interventions to work
together to promote greater accessibility and use of MNH services and
accountability in providing them?
o To monitor the context and process of implementation of the Ramp IN ORDER to
capture learnings, enabling factors and reasons for achieving and not achieving
targets.
TASKS
The main tasks of the M&E agency under this ToR will be as follows
a) Quantitative data collection and analysis
To collect high quality end-line data from 14 health institution and 960 households using
agreed survey tools
To analyse all quantitative data collected during the pilot (baseline data household and
health facility survey data; endline household and health facility survey data; and data
from HMIS) to answer the following questions :

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The household data will be analysed using probit model to access the effectiveness of the pilot and
regression discontinuity analysis will be used to access the changes observed in the utilisation
through HMIS.
b) Qualitative data collection
To collect high quality qualitative data about the experience of service users and
stakeholders during the pilot through 9 focus group discussions and about 40 in-depth
interviews in line with an agreed methodology
To collect data based on agreed tools and checklist developed for process monitoring
Analyse qualitative data to identify out how MNH services can be made available (supply
side), and how demand side interventions for MNH can be effectively delivered.
c) Document case studies
M&E agency will be involved in mid-term review of the project (currently planned in early
December 2014). They are expected to report the findings based on mid-term review.
Note: Baseline tools will be reviewed and extra questions may be added for new information needed
for endline survey based on implementation and process monitoring experiences.
DELIVERABLES
1. Process monitoring tools
2. Quarterly monitoring report
3. End-line data from 14 facilities
4. End-line data from the household survey
5. Qualitative data from exit interview with women utilising maternity services
6. Qualitative data from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions
7. A report of findings from qualitative data (details and format of report to be agreed)
8. A report on findings from quantitative and qualitative data (details and format of report to
be agreed)
9. Two or three case studies
10. A brief progress report towards half way point of the assignment after the mid-term review (December
2014 or January 2015)
11. Dissemination of findings, including summary report and PowerPoint slides

TIMEFRAME

Qualitative data
collection and
analysis
Aug
2014
Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
2015
Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Recruitment of
M&E staff for
x

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district
Develop process
monitoring tools
X
Process
monitoring

Quarterly
monitoring based
on agreed tools
and timeframe
X x x X x x X x x
Quarterly report to
NHSSP
x x x
Case study and
report writing
x
Refine, develop
and finalize
endline evaluation
tools
X
Hire enumerators
for endline
X
Train enumerators
for endline
X
Data collection for
endline
x
Data coding,
transcription and
translation
x X
Data entry x X
Data analysis and
tabulation (qual.
and quant.)
X
Draft report
writing
X
Finalize report and
dissemination
x
Monitoring visits
from centre
X x x x x x x x x X

REPORTING
The consultant firm will report to the FHD and NHSSP for the key deliverables. The firm will report
to Research adviser and EHCS adviser of NHSSP on a day-to-day basis on progress of the assignment
and important issues that arise.

16

APPROVAL
These terms of reference have been reviewed and approved by FHD, who will be kept informed of
progress during the assignment and receive a copy of the deliverables.
NHRC had provided ethical approval for conducting M&E of the RAMP in Taplejung district.
QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES
The local research firm should:
be a national organization that is registered with the Government of Nepal;
have five years proven experience in providing services similar to those detailed in this ToR
with stakeholders such as the MoHP, UN/bilateral organizations;
have experience working in the health sector on similar and e studies exercises and surveyes.
DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE on request:
1 Pilot design document
2 Monitoring and evaluation design document
3 Health institution survey tool
4 household survey tools
5 In-depth interviews guides
6 Focus group discussion guides
7: Detailed implementation guidelines










17

ANNEX II: Bid Submission Letter

To:
Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP)
Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP)
Room 415
Ramshaha Path, Kathmandu

Dear Sir/Madam,

The undersigned, having read the solicitation documents of Request for Proposals dated
hereby offer to provide the services in accordance with any specifications stated and
subject to the Terms and Conditions set out or specified in the document.

We agree to abide by this bid for a period of 90 days from the date fixed for the opening
of bids in the Request for Proposals, and it shall remain binding upon us and may be accepted at
any time before the expiration of that period.

We undertake, if our bid is accepted, to commence and complete delivery of all items in
the contract within the price and time frame stipulated.

We understand that you are not bound to accept any bid you may receive and that a
binding contract would result only after final negotiations are concluded on the basis of the
technical and price bids proposed.



Dated this .......... day of .................., 2014


Signature: .
Name: .
Title: .
Company: .
Email address








18

ANNEX III: Bidders Identification

1. Organisation/Company Name:


_____________________________________________________________

2. Address, Country:


_____________________________________________________________

Telephone: ________________Fax: _____________Website: ________________________

3. Date of establishment: _______________________________________

4. Name of Legal Representative:
______________________________________

5. Contact:____________________________________ Email:
_________________________

Person:_____________________________________

6. Type of Organization: For- profit Not-for-profit Other

Organisational Type: NGO Research Institution Company Other

9. Number of Staff:

10. Years working with bilateral/UN organizations: and NHSSP:

11. Subsidiaries in the region (if applicable): Indicate name of subsidiaries and
address

a)

b)

c)





19

ANNEX IV: Outline of Technical Proposal


The technical bid should be concisely presented and structured in the following order to
include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following information keeping it within 20 pages:

1. Description of the organisation and the organisations qualifications: A brief
description of your institution and an outline of recent experience on projects of
a similar nature, including experience in the country and language concerned. You
should also provide information that will facilitate our evaluation of your
institutions substantive reliability, such as annual reports of the organisation, and
evidence of financial and managerial capacity to provide the services such as audited
financial statements.

2. Your understanding of the requirements for services, including any assumptions
including: comments on the data, support services and facilities to be provided as
indicated in the TOR or as you may otherwise believe to be necessary.

3. Proposed Approach, Methodology, Timing and Outputs: any comments or
suggestions on the TOR, as well as your detailed description of the manner in which
your organization will respond to the TOR. You should include the number of person-
months in each specialisation that you consider necessary to carry out the work
required. The level of total professional/personnel inputs required is to be provided.

4. Quality assurance plan: A detailed plan showing how the quality of data collection at all
stages including questionnaire finalization, translation, survey team members
identification, recruitment, training, mobilization, data collection, data entry, cleaning
and editing will be assured.

5. Proposed Team Structure: The composition of the team you propose to provide in
the country of assignment and/or at the home office, and the work tasks
(including supervisory) which would be assigned to each. An organogram illustrating
the reporting lines, together with a description of such organisation of the team
structure should support your bid.

6. Proposed Project Team Members: Please attach the curriculum vitae of the
senior professional member of the team and members of the proposed team and details
of how long each member of your team has directly worked as an employee of your
organisation. Also provide a written commitment from each of the proposed team
members for the posts detailed in the attached TOR providing an undertaking that they will
be available and committed to working on this programme for the said duration and any
possible extension. Please include CVs of key team members in Annex VI.



20

ANNEX V: Bidders Previous Experience and Clients


Description of the organisation and the organisations qualifications: A brief description of
the organisation and an outline of recent experiences on projects of a similar nature. You should
also provide information that will facilitate our evaluation of your organisations substantive
reliability, such as annual reports, and financial and managerial capacity to provide the services
such as audited financial statements. Please use the format below.

No. Description (1) Client
Contact person,
phone number,
email address
Date of service
Contract
Amount
From To (Currency)












(1) Bidder shall indicate the description of products, services or works provided to their clients.
Please indicate only relevant contracts to the one requested in the RFP.








21



Annex VI: CVs of Key Team Members


22


ANNEX VII: Budget Distribution Form


Name of organization:

Budget Categories and Line Items Unit Unit costs Total Amount Remarks
A. Human Resources











Others (please specify)
Subtotal (A)

B. DSA & Accommodation










Others (please specify)

Subtotal (B)
C. Transportation costs


Subtotal (B)



D. Training
Pretest (full board)
Main training (full board)
Other (please specify)

Subtotal (D)

E. Others (please specify)


23

Budget Categories and Line Items Unit Unit costs Total Amount Remarks
Printing
Data collection
Others ( please specify)

TOTAL COST (A+B+C+D+E)

GRAND TOTAL






Signature of Bidder:


Name and title: